, 1887-09-15
IN A LODGING HOUSE.
CHEAP QUARTERS FOR THE WAN
UERERs OF THE METROPOLIS.

A Night In = Now York Embellishments.
Glimpse of an UnInviting Interior.
Down on His Luok-A big business.
The Patrons.
There was a sort of triangular trans
parency that from the top of
the front doo- to a homeless public that
lodging for the night might be had for the
small sum of half a dollar, and that il
they did not possess that requisite frac-
ton ever the smaller denominator of a
quarter would procure them shelter. AT
1890, when | presented myself at the en-
trance, the janitor told me that the half
dollar beds were already occupied, but
that II l could curl my tendency to lux
ury he could accommodate me on the
third pair back with what he called a
quarter bed" 1 accepted this PROPOSE
ton, went into a little office, where l de-
posted my quarter on a small desk and
got IA dirty yellow ticket in return. There
WIS IN elderly gentleman, whose coat was
buttoned quite up 10 his chin even on that
warm evening, IN preceded me and who
was expostulating in a meek undertone
with the stony parsonage who sat behind
the desk.
Surely you can trust me for Tonight"
he suid. 81 am positive to be able to pay
by the end of the week"
The clerk threw open a ledger with a
bang, ran his dingy finger down a list,
IKE. his BOILED eyes upon the ex~postula-
tor, and read out:
Green: Seven quarter b~eds-unpaid.
Can't do it till you pay up"
But | have no place to Sleep" qua
vered the old party.
Very sorry. We don't keep a charita-
BILE lodging house. food night" And
the melancholy old party wandered dis
mally out Into the street again with the
sneaky, deprecating air and gait Of q lost
dog. A man in a white high hat came In,
threw down the piece of fractional cur
rency necessary, and got a ticket emitting
him TO Il bed next to mine. AS the night
was hot, all doors were wide open and we
glanced into the apartments that lay along
our route upward.
INTERIoR ARRANGEMENTS.
On the first floor, where a nights lodg-
ing costs 80 cents, there were six parti-
lions in each room, no larger than an oy-
ster shell. In each Of these there was a
single bed of white pine, a shelf, with a
hole cut In 1t to hold a basin, and a roller
towel and small mirror hung on the par
titiOn wall that was only six feet high and
allowed the center chandelier to light the
whole apartment. The hall bed room,
that in ordinary boarding houses has all
II CAll no 10 COHIllH one man, Is mere OIL
vided into three apartments. In the third
pair back, whittier we were bound, there
We're no partitions. There were twelve
cot beds disposed in two rows of six each,
and all OF them were occupied but three.
The windows were wide open as was the
door, and an asthmatical gas Jet wheezed
with a feeble light. Men in various stages
of dishabille were sprawled over the beds.
Some had only taken off their coats and
shoes. Others were in more or less dilap-
idated underclothes and two more very
little of anything. My friend in the white
high hat, who proved to be of the gam
bler's persuasion and down on his luck,
was very laxative, and while he removed
his garments preparatory to retiring i'm
parted considerable information on the
subject Of cheap lodging houses, with
which he had had a wide experience.
Though l do go up to the Buckingham
sometimes when the cards amt against
me like they are now" he explained. He
removed his hat and his coat, which was
not of a bad cut n revealed the fact that
his collar and cravat had concealed, that
he wore no shirt, but he took the fact
~jauntily and proceeded to divest himself
and get into bed, all the while conversing
pleasantly. The beds themselves were
hardly more han canvas stretchers, with
n thin mattress of husks and straw; one
sheet, a calico quilt and a sort of flexible
~fallopean tube for a bolster-no pillow,
no privacy, no washing utensils and next
to no ventilation, added to which was
that repulsive sensation of clapmy dirti-
ness that pervades such places, and 1t
will be seen that twenty-five cents was
full pay for the accommodation. Yet my
cheerful friend told me that these places
were always full.
A BIG BUSINESS.